My Life, My Religion

We need to show that Muslims are not people to fear.

Dear Future President,

This is the year 2016, and I believe that race shouldn’t be a problem, but it is. I am an Arab, who is a Muslim, meaning I go out in public, and wear a hijab (scarf). I get judged about my appearance, and my choice of wearing a scarf when I travel. I am not alone in this problem. Many are dealing with being stereotyped as being a terrorist when it comes to schools, jobs, and socializing. True, there are people in the world who see one another more than clothing style and religion, but there are others who don’t. The portion who don’t still affect, not only myself, but many who are offended.

I am a young high school girl, and I have fantasized of being the next first Middle Eastern to win a medal to find the cure for cancer. However, people can’t picture a Muslim wearing a hijab doing anything good in their life, as apparently they’re only good at, “bombing buildings, and killing innocent people." Statistically speaking, Islamic people are at higher chance of being prosecuted, denied, or convicted than any other religion. Currently, Islam is the major religion dealing with hate as people believe it’s a religion that follows ISIS, when it’s not. Due to this high level of hate, many families have been worried for their children, especially female daughters, and now there is a higher chance of a Muslim girl stopping herself from wearing a scarf because she fears for her life.

My sophomore year in my previous high school, I left school and was heading to meet up with my sisters to go home. I was passing the student parking lot when two white seniors from my school rolled down their window, and screamed at me, “TERRORIST! GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM TERRORIST." I froze in place, shocked at what had happened. I wanted to know if my ears were playing a trick, so I turned around and noticed them realizing I had heard them. They quickly pressed on the gas pedal, and zoomed away as fast as they could while trying to roll their window up. I wasn’t planning on taking any actions, as I was defenseless, and came from a school where the majority of students were white, Indians, and Asian, and I was one of four students in a population of nearly 2,000 who was Muslim, and one of two people who wore a hijab to school. I couldn’t approach any staff or higher authority, as they would take the matter lightly, since most of the school fundraising came from white families. I was defenseless, scared, and discriminated against for fighting for my rights because it would have been a battle I would have lost.

That is why I am asking you to help with Islamophobia that is growing in the world. We need to show that Muslims are not people to fear. We are just humans, like anybody else, practicing our religion. I want to go to school without feeling hate, and thinking of myself as an outsider. It might take a long time, just like the Great Depression, but just like the Depression, life got better. So will mine, with the support of you, the president, on my side, and on the side of many who are dealing with a hard life being a Muslim in the United States.

#2nextprez

Letters to the Next President 2.0 engaged and connected young people, aged 13-18, as they researched, wrote, and made media to voice their opinions on issues that mattered to them in the 2016 Presidential Election.

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